


Sandcastles in the Sand

by Jbee



Series: Gates of Askr: Year One [26]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24866536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jbee/pseuds/Jbee
Summary: Things get heated when our heroes head to the beach for fun in the sun, and one little princess is having a hard to completing her sandcastle on her own. Kiran tries to help, but there's more bothering Ylgr than just collapsed sand towers.
Series: Gates of Askr: Year One [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1703545
Kudos: 3





	Sandcastles in the Sand

**Author's Note:**

> This series is a collection of short stories driven by the FEH Subreddit Weekly Writing Prompts, June 22, 2020. "Kiran seeks a partner for the Beach Tournament!"

Sunlight sparkled off the ocean’s surface, as waves rolled in and out on the sandy shoreline. The weather was perfect for the Order’s yearly beach outing, save for the menacing, blue swirling vortex that could be seen off in the distance. Kiran inhaled the fresh salty air, which was mixed with the scent of tropical flowers and coconuts coming from the lotion she was rubbing on Sakura’s back. Ranulf stretched out, sunbathing in the chair next to them and Sothis enjoyed a bowl of shaved ice on a nearby beach towel. There were heroes camped out all along the coast, and the four of them had found a quiet spot, spending their morning swimming and relaxing on lounge chairs, beneath the shelter of their sun umbrellas.

Kiran had arrived at the castle the day before just in time to be swept away by her friends. The tempest vortex had touched down off the eastern coast. A popular Askran tropical hot spot, with warm currents from Múspell, the vortex’s arrival was the Order’s excuse for the heroes to enjoy a little fun and relaxation on the beach. It took no time for them to set up their main encampment and settle in for a few weeks of summer paradise. In all the excitement and chaos taking place in the castle after she had arrived, Kiran hadn’t found anytime to meet with Alfonse before she had re-packed her bags and departed. She entrusted the dragonstone with Cherche, who had already planned to include all they had learned on their mission in her upcoming report to the prince.

“Can you can do me next?” Kiran asked, rubbing the last of the lotion on the healer’s smooth shoulders.

“Of course!” Sakura took the small bottle that she had brought. A Hoshidan recipe for sun protection that she had concocted before their trip. The two women adjusted their positions on the chair they were sharing.

Kiran slid off her silk shawl, that she used to cover herself. She still felt awkward in her new swimwear. The bathing suit Sakura had picked out for her was a cute once piece that left almost nothing to the imagination. It was not something she would have chosen herself, but after all the traveling over the last month she was feeling a bit more confident in her own skin. She was thankful that her last mission had been better than any pre-swimsuit season diet. Kiran tried to relax as Sakura began to smother the lotion on Kiran’s back and shoulders. She shivered, the cream was cool and the contrast to her hot skin sent chills down her spine. “Thanks Sakura.” Kiran could feel her tight muscles loosening, and sighed as she looked out over the sparkling water.

“I shall go for a walk.” Sothis declared, pushing her empty bowl to the side and standing up. “The ocean air agrees with me.” She smiled and marched towards the shoreline and straight into the water, her long mane of hair disappearing into the waves before anyone could protest.

“She’ll be okay, right?” Kiran grimaced, waiting with baited breath for the small goddess to pop up over the white caps.

“Sure.” Ranulf shrugged nonchalantly as he lazily laid back in his chair.

“Well I have to go now.” Sakura stood up and stretch, “A few of the other healers and I are competing in the sandcastle competition.” she explained, while she packed away her lotions and ointments. “We’re called The Holy Erection… It’s the last time we let Loki name the team.”

“That’s awesome.” Kiran giggled, “I’ll make sure I come by and check it out when you’re done!” she called out after Sakura as she waved goodbye.

“Well it looks like it’s just me and you kid.” Ranulf laughed, not moving from his position, the rim of his headband pulled down over his eyes.

“And a dozen of your Kraken Böllurs!” Kiran exclaimed, reaching over for the small Nifl wood box, “I can’t believe you learned to make these while I was gone.” She popped one of the savory treats in her mouth, “They’re so good!” she mumbled, as a few heroes walking by stopped and approached them.

“Hey, We’re looking for a few more people to play Knattleikr with us.” Lethe asked, holding a large leather ball under her arm. Linus was right beside her, “You guys interested? It should be a great test of strength!” he added, flexing his arm, while his partner rolled her eyes at him.

Kiran quickly tried to choke down the food that was in her mouth, “Thanks, but no thanks.” She managed to say, trying not to share too much at their glistening muscles. “We’re just interested in R&R today.”

“I’m in!” Ranulf pushed his head band up with his thumb, and leaped out of his seat, turning to Kiran. “You don’t mind, right?”

“Oh!” Kiran shook her head, trying to hide her surprise and disappointment, “You go ahead. You work so hard; you should do what you want to do on your day off! I have a book I want to read anyways.” She smiled, and pulled out an old book from her bag.

Ranulf threw a towel over his shoulder, and bent down to quickly kiss the top of Kiran’s head, “Thanks, I’ll catch up with you later tonight!”

Kiran watched the last of her companions walk off to do their own thing, leaving her with her own thoughts. She sighed and looked at the book in her hands, tossing it back on the bag. _Maybe I should have gone too?_ She wondered looking at the ocean, _Nah, I would have been creamed by the other heroes_ , remembering how poorly she use to do in any sporting activities back in her own world.

Brushing the sand from her bare feet and laying back in her chair, Kiran stretched her arms above her head. _It will be nice to get some alone time in anyways,_ she thought _, it’s been a long time since I have been by myself._ Kiran closed her eyes trying to clear her mind of any thoughts of summoning, missions, or training. She tried to focus on the sound of waves and the call of gulls overhead… “Welp! I’m bored already.” She huffed sitting up from her seat, and throwing on her shawl, _I should go for a quick walk too._

Kiran headed down to the shoreline, allowing the waves to wash over her feet as she walked along. She squinted as she looked out at the ocean, half hoping to see Sothis head pop up between the white caps and groups of heroes that waded in the water, but all she could see is the large vortex in the distance, with storm clouds circling around it.

“HEY!” cried a small voice, “Watch where you’re going!”

Kiran jumped back, almost losing her balance, looking down to see the youngest Niflese princess glaring up at her, shovel in one hand and a bucket in the other and a broken tower of sand that Kiran must have damaged while walking by, “Oh my gods, I’m so sorry Ylgr!”

“It’s fine.” Ylgr huffed, “I’ll just start over.” She mumbled returning to her work.

“So, you’re in the sandcastle competition?” Kiran asked, looking down at the girl surrounded by misshapen hills of sand. “I don’t see anyone helping you? Who else is on your team?” she asked, looking around.

“No one.” Yglr mumbled, as she continued to work in the sand. “Now if you don’t mind moving, you’re standing in the castle gardens.”

“Oops!” Kiran bent over to get a better look, she felt bad for knocking over the tower and standing in Ylgr’s work, but if she had to be honest, it didn’t look like there was much progress being made by Ylgr in the first place. “Can I give you a hand?”

“If you want.” Ylgr shrugged, continuing to drag her shovel up the side of the lump of sand, pushing it too hard and creating cracks.

“Okay… Where do you want me to start?” Kiran asked, she was trying to lighten the situation, “I’m yours to command!” She laughed and saluted at the little princess who just ignored her. Kiran let her hand fall back to her side, when she received no reaction, “Maybe I can fix the gardens I stepped on?”

“Whatever.” Ylgr didn’t look up, raising a bucket and producing another poorly made sand column.

Kiran began to work on fixing the pond within the tiny garden, a knot began to form in the pit of her stomach and the silence between the two started to put her on edge. This attitude was so unlike Ylgr, she had always been so happy and talkative in the past. “So, where is Hríd, and Fjorm?” she asked, once again trying to connect with the young girl, “I would have thought you would have teamed up with them.”

“Hríd’s back in Nifl working, and Fjorm is one of the judges.” Ylgr coldly told her, continuing with her fifth attempt to make a straight sand column.

“There must have been someone else?” Kiran gently asked, she was concerned about how this once happy-go-lucky princess was now behaving.

“Well there wasn’t!” Ylgr finally met Kiran’s gaze, her little cheeks bright red, “Stop!” she cried, when she noticed what the summoner was working on, “That’s not what the gardens in Nifl look like! Don’t you remember?”

Kiran was at a loss for words, and sat back on her heels, “I’m sorry, I guess I don’t.”

“Just work on the walls.” Ylgr barked and stood up, “I would hope that you can do that at least.” She scoffed and grabbed the bucket, marching back to the shoreline to get more water.

“Okay, okay.” Kiran mumbled, she knew she wasn’t any better at this then Ylgr, and there was no way they were even going to come close to winning, but she thought she could at least cheer the princess up, make this a good day for her.

Kiran ran her finger along the top of the sand wall trying to level it off, she heard the distant laughter of heroes not too far off. Her eyes began to wander falling on a small group of girls all smiling and giggling, enjoying small bowls of shaved ice, and surrounding one of the new heroes that came through the gates that week. Kiran blushed, and wish she could be one of those carefree girls, eating sweets and flirting. It didn’t hurt that the new guy was pretty cute, in a lost puppy sort of way, she giggled to herself.

“Kiran!” Ylgr cried out again, interrupting the summoner’s little daydream, “Watch what you’re doing!”

“What now?” Kiran barked back, turning her attention to the angry little princess.

“You’re not paying attention, you’re too busy staring at that new guy.” Ylgr scolded the summoner, looming over the poorly constructed sand wall.

“I was not!” Kiran was embarrassed she was caught staring and turned red, “And it’s fine to look you know!” she could feel her temperature rising, only made worse by the heat of the sun, “It’s not like your wall is any better.” She blurted out, she knew it was childish but Ylgr was beginning to bring out the worst in her.

“Well it would have been different if Helbindi was here!” Ylgr grabbed her shovel, as she yelled at the summoner, “If only you just did your job right, he would be!” she cried, her face turning red, as she flung the weapon at Kiran, a cascade of sand trailing behind it.

Kiran rose her arms to block the weapon and yelped when it hit her forearm, but it was the sand that followed that caused her to wail out in pain, “There’s sand in my eye!” She cupped her face and tumbled forward, her eye stung more than her arm throbbed, and she could feel her chest tighten as she tried to hold back her anger. “Shit!” she hissed into her hands, trying to hold back her fury, struggling not to yell the string of obscenities that was racing through her mind.

“M-MEDIC!” Ylgr cried out, as she stood there shaking and staring at Kiran on the ground, a look of shock and disbelief at what she had done. The young girl moved to help, but stopped, scared at what the summoner might do to her.

“Whoa, are you alright?” The new healer that had been chatting with the young women had rushed over when he heard the commotion and knelt down beside Kiran.

“No!” Kiran cried, lifting her head up, one hand still covering her eye, tears running down her flushed face, “She just threw her shovel at me and there’s sand in my eye!”

He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small bottle of clear liquid, “Hold still, and lean back.” He instructed, gently lifting Kiran’s chin up and pulling her hand away from her face, “I’m going to flush it out, but it’s going to sting a bit.”

The little princess stood by and watched, trying not to cry, “I-I’m s-sorry.” Ylgr whimpered, her head dropped in shame, and her fist clenched.

“You should be!” Kiran cried out, she tried to look over at the young girl, while the priest continued to flush out the particles of sand from her eye, holding her face in place. Kiran wanted to give Ylgr a piece of her mind, but when she finally broke from the healer’s grasp the little girl was nowhere to be seen.

“Here, hold this cold compress against your eye.” The priest told Kiran, handing her a small wet towel.

“Crap.” Kiran mumbled, holding the cloth to her face, “Now, where did that brat go?”

“I think you hurt her feelings.” The priest told her, “Hold on moment.” He said, digging into his satchel once again, “I’m afraid you’re going to have to wear this for a few days.” He pulled out a black cloth eye-patch, and secured it over her eye, and around her head. “Just to be on the safe side.”

“Well, that’s just great, isn’t it?” Kiran sarcastically grumbled, _how could this get any worse_ , she wondered, “Thanks doc.” she mumbled, lightly touching the patch on her face in disappointment.

“Rhys.” The priest informed her, packing away his kit, “Look, I know I’m new here, and it’s not my place to say,” Rhys stopped what he was doing, and shook his head as he continued to lecture Kiran, “but she’s just a kid, maybe you shouldn’t have been so hard on her. It was just an accident.”

Kiran sighed, she was hot, sweaty, covered in tears and sand. She knew her behavior was wrong and as first impressions go, this was one of her worst. “I know, and I’m sorry for the outburst. She’s not usually like this. Neither of us are.” She tried to explain to Rhys, “There’s something that’s bothering her, and I was only trying to help…” she took a deep breath, as the pain subsided, “I have to find her before it gets dark.”

“Just be careful, you’re going to have a lack of depth perception while you’re wearing that patch,” Rhys instructed, “I want you to swing by the infirmary tent later this week, to see how your eye is healing.”

Kiran nodded in agreement, and Rhys pushed himself to his feet, offering his hand to help her up too. He held her arms steady until she regained her balance, adjusting to her vision, “And, if it makes you feel any better, you would make a pretty cute pirate.” He smiled and laughed, his rosy cheeks seemed to deepen in colour.

Kiran blushed as she brushed off the sand on her legs and arms, “Thanks, again.” She tried to hide her smile, as she turned to leave. _Maybe that went better than I thought it did._

Kiran slowly wandered up and down the coastline of the beach, asking any other heroes that she came across in her search. No one had spotted Ylgr since she was seen building her sandcastle. The sun was beginning to set, and many had already started to pack up for the day. Kiran shivered and pulled her shawl closer around her body. She was starting to panic as she walked further away from the main encampment, and up a rocky section of the coast. She took her time walking over the jagged rocks, using her hands to gage how far things were, until she finally caught a glimpse of a small blue and white shape, sitting up on a rock shelf overlooking the ocean.

“There you are!” Kiran called out to Ylgr as she approached the edge, “I have been looking everywhere! We need to go; it’s going to get really cold out here soon.”

“I don’t mind.” Ylgr quietly said, as she continued to look out over the ocean.

Kiran sighed, and grabbed the rock to climb up and join Ylgr, “Okay, then help me up! I’m not leaving here without you.” she told the young princess, who grabbed Kiran’s hand and guided her safely to the top of the rock, trying to hide the surprised look on her face, “What?” she asked with a smile on her face, “Staring at my patch? Go on, you can laugh.”

“You’re not mad anymore?” Ylgr questioned, as she sniffed and tears started to well in her eyes.

“No.” Kiran knelt down and embraced the young girl, “Right now I’m more concerned.”

“I’m sorry I hit you!” Ylgr cried, as she wrapped her arms around Kiran and buried her face into the summoner’s shoulder, “And that I got sand in your eye.”

“It was just an accident, and I’m sorry I lost my temper.” Kiran held the trembling princess as she sobbed in her arms, “I should have tried harder to understand why you were so upset. Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“It’s just…” Ylgr release Kiran from her arms and wiped her tears away, while looking down at her feet, “I heard you weren’t going to try and bring my friend Helbindi here.”

“Oh.” Kiran felt a ping of guilt when Ylgr confessed what was bothering her, “Well, that’s true, there are no plans to try and bring him here.” She began to explain, there was never a good answer for a hero that missed a loved one or a friend. “I mean it’s not up to me. The council has to agree on who we use our resources on.”

“But you have the final say!” Ylgr cried, looking up at Kiran, her tiny fists clenched again, “You’re the one that summons!”

“That wouldn’t be fair to the other heroes.” Kiran shook her head, and placed her hand on Ylgr’s shoulder. “And even if I did try to bring your friend here, it’s not guaranteed that he will come.” She needed to make sure Ylgr understood that it was not up to the summoner, or the even the council whether a hero comes to their Askr or not.

“I know.” Ylgr sighed, and quietly said, “I just thought maybe this year would be different.”

Kiran wanted this year to be different too, she wanted to tell the sad little princess that her friend would be coming home, to tell all the heroes they would be getting what they wanted, and even though she knew it wasn’t possible, she could settle for the next best thing. Kiran smiled, “Well you know, with this eye patch there’s a pretty high chance I will miss my attended target…” she casually mentioned, “I was never that good at aiming anyways.” She shrugged, “But you have to promise me, no more tears if he doesn’t come home?”

Ylgr face lit up with excitement when she realized what Kiran was proposing, jumping back into the summoner’s arms and almost knocking her over, “I promise.”

End


End file.
